PAPER: EMPIRICAL AND LIVED EXPERIENCE PERSPECTIVES ON SELF-INJURY Overview: The only required book for this course is Skin Game in which the author, Caroline Kettlewell, shares her lived experiences with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and other mental health difficulties. After reading her story, you will write a paper comprising two parts. This is an individual grade.
Part 1: For the first part of the paper, you will contrast the empirical and clinical literatures (derived from in-class discussions and posted readings) with Caroline’s experiences. The readings that correspond to the empirical and clinical literature will be posted on Courselink (all must be used and cited). We will dedicate class time to discuss these readings (and the broader literature) to ensure you understand their content as this is critical to a successful paper; you are strongly encouraged to read the papers prior to class. Therefore, this section of the paper must demonstrate the DEPTH of your understanding of the readings (i.e., it needs to be more than simple/superficial comparisons; you should explain why you are making comparisons and what is behind your arguments). You may, but you do not need to, incorporate additional papers and resources when writing your papers.
Part 2: The second part of the paper is a reflection on the book and your experience reading it. Part of this section should comment on the value of hearing about an individual’s experience in the context of understanding a mental health difficulty (e.g., did you find it useful/helpful, why or why not?). Beyond this, you should reflect on other experiences. Questions that could be addressed include but are not limited to: What do you think about Caroline’s experience in terms of what it must have been like for her? What do you think helped (or did not help) in her recovery and why? How did you feel as you read the book? What do you think made you feel this way? What thoughts did you have as you read the book? What do you think made you think this way? You should also discuss whether and how the book helped you to understand NSSI and whether and how it changed your perspective on the topic.
Paper Requirements: • Papers must be your own work (please see section on Academic Integrity) • The paper should be approximately 10-12 pages (give or take 1 page) in length and double-spaced. • The first part of the paper (Part 1, above) should comprise about two thirds of your paper (i.e., discussing similarities/differences and what this might mean). As noted below in the grade breakdown, it is important to avoid superficial comparisons. • You may use the first person when doing the reflection component of this paper (Part 2, above). However, the first part of the paper (Part 1, above) must be in third person. • You may separate the paper into two formal sections if you prefer though this is not required; please do what works best for you. • Papers must be formally written (no colloquial statements, slang, contractions, etc.). Proper grammar is important. • Please use 12-point black font (in Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial). Margins MUST be 1-inch (2.54 cm). You should also have page numbers in the upper right corner. You must submit as a Word Document (no PDFs or other formats) • Include a proper APA title page with a paper title, your name, your student number, and course number. The title page is NOT included as a part of the page limit. \• All references MUST be primary sources. You should not be making reference to 1 paper if it is cited in another paper (e.g., Author X, 2016 as cited in Author Y, 2019). The only exception would be if you are using a review paper, which will always refer to other papers (in these cases, you may simply cite the review paper versus the individual sources the review paper cites – unless you have reviewed and read these yourself). • All in-text references must be in APA format; an APA-formatted Reference section is also required. All required readings for the paper on Courselink should be used.
